HERE COMES THE REIGN AGAIN WITH BULL'S-EYES ON THEIR BACKS, MAYBE LAKERS SHOULD PLAY IN TARGET CENTER.

Byline: Rich Hammond  Staff Writer

Kobe Bryant, Shaquille O'Neal and the rest of the newly crowned NBA champion Lakers had barely dried off from their champagne showers before the questioning commenced.

Kobe, how many championships can you win? Shaq, will you still have the same burning desire now that you finally got a ring? Phil, is this team better than the Bulls?

Welcome to the Lakers' world. They make Los Angeles a championship city for the first time since 1988, and all anybody wants to talk about is how they are going to fare next year and five or 10 years from now.

The reason is simple. The Lakers, led by the 28-year-old O'Neal and the 21-year-old Bryant, are once again recognized as basketball's premier team, and will be considered the favorites to win the NBA title for the better part of the next decade.

``Right now, we just want to enjoy this first championship,'' Bryant said. ``Are we looking forward to coming back next year and defending our throne? Absolutely. We'll just take it one year at a time, just do what we did this year and not get too far ahead of ourselves.''

Still, one can't help but imagine what the future holds for the Lakers. Even 19-year assistant coach Bill Bertka, not a man prone to overstatement, can't help but marvel at what might become of the team.

``The amazing thing to me is that this team has a huge upside,'' Bertka said. ``Kobe is going to get better, Shaq is going to get better, and they just scratched the surface of the triangle offense. As they get more proficient at it, there's still a huge upside there.

``Now that may sound funny, since they had the best record and won the world championship, but we can get much better and much more efficient.''

Naturally, any discussion of the Lakers' future begins with O'Neal and Bryant.

O'Neal, in his eighth pro season, dominated the league as never before. He remained, in his words, ``knickknack injury free'' after suffering through various knee and abdominal injuries over the past few years, and won the scoring title and his first Most Valuable Player award.

At 28, O'Neal is entering what are considered to be the prime years for an athlete, and Bryant, who O'Neal calls his ``little brother,'' is just learning how to be a team player. And, as some observers are already pointing out, by the time O'Neal's skills begin to decline, Bryant will be more than ready to lead the team.

The two superstars combine for a one-two punch that few other teams can match. O'Neal and Bryant seemed to have worked out whatever ego conflicts previously existed between them and are determined to make the Lakers into perennial championship contenders, as Bryant signed a seven-year contract before last season and O'Neal is talking about an extension.

``I tell you, that is the best duo I've seen in a long time,'' forward Glen Rice said, ``and they are going to be together forever. I've been able to sit back and watch those guys go out and do their thing. It's an unbelievable duo.''

Bertka, whose tenure with the Lakers dates back to the 1970s when he served as director of player personnel for the Wilt Chamberlain-Jerry West teams, doesn't shy away from commenting on the potential of the O'Neal-Bryant partnership.

``In Shaq, we have the most dominant big man in basketball,'' Bertka said, ``and possibly the most dominant big man to ever play the game, as long as he continues to add to his arsenal, which he's capable of doing.

``And Kobe is an emerging star player who has harnessed a lot of things and grew tremendously this past season and helped his team win a world championship at an early age, which is simply astounding.''

Two players, however, do not a dynasty make. To a man, everyone in the Lakers organization praised the impact of players such as Rice, Ron Harper, A.C. Green and Brian Shaw. There's a good chance three of the four won't be back.

Now that the Lakers finally seem to have become a cohesive unit, what's the hurry to break them up? There is no rush, but a number of factors could lead to significant roster changes.

Trade rumors have circulated around Rice ever since his arrival in the middle of the 1998-99 season. He will be a free agent this summer, and now that he has his first championship ring, Rice might choose to play for a team that will let him be a bigger part of the offensive scheme.

Harper is 36 and has chronically sore knees but says he will return ``if Phil needs me.'' A.C. Green, 36, was waived last week and Shaw and backup center John Salley (both 36) might retire this summer.

Assuming all those moves are made, that would leave the Lakers with a core of O'Neal, Bryant, Robert Horry, Rick Fox and Derek Fisher.

This isn't really new for Jackson, who went through a similar situation with Chicago in the 1990s.

Besides Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen, the Bulls' roster was largely filled with interchangeable parts, guys like Steve Kerr, John Paxson, B.J. Armstrong, Joe Kleine and, not coincidentally, Harper and Salley, hired-gun veterans who would step in, play a year or two, then move on.

A similar situation is not out of the question as the Lakers build around O'Neal and Bryant.

``Right now, I haven't even thought about it,'' Bryant said. ``You know, Jerry West has always done an excellent job with this ballclub and I'm sure he's going to make the right decisions again.''

O'Neal added, ``We're not going to worry about it. Jerry West and Phil Jackson will take care of things.''

And how does the boss feel?

``Well, right now, it's too early to say,'' team owner Jerry Buss said. ``Obviously, we're going to have to talk to all the players, see how they feel about it. Some will probably want to come back, some perhaps won't.

``That's a question I wish Jerry West was sitting here beside me (to answer), because, you know, he's the magician. For 20 years, he's brought the kind of talent it takes to win a NBA championship into L.A.''

Looming in the future is the always-uncertain status of West, the man who earns everyone's praise but who could retire at any time, and the league's new ``luxury tax'' for teams over the salary cap, which Buss has vowed not to pay.

At the moment, however, all is well, even though the Lakers know how fleeting success can be. October - and the start of the 2000-01 season - will be here soon, and with it will come a whole new, and greater, set of expectations.

``We'll be ready,'' O'Neal said. ``People are saying the bull's-eye will be on our backs next year, but it's been on our backs for a while now, so we're used to it. It doesn't make a difference; we're going out to win another one.''

YEAR IN NUMBERS 67 Regular season wins. Second all-time in Lakers history to `71-`72 championship teams' 69 29.7 Shaquille O'Neal's NBA leading scoring average. 12 NBA Championships won by the Lakers franchise. 5-Minneapolis 7-Los Angeles 1 First place votes O'Neal did not receive for the 1999-2000 NBA MVP award. LOS ANGELES CHAMPIONS 1971-72 The Lakers win 69 games, the most in NBA history and win a record 33 consecutive games en route to their first NBA title in Los Angeles. The Lakers, who are led in scoring by Gail Goodrich (25.9 ppg), sweep past Chicago in the opening round, nip defending-champion Milwaukee in six games and defeat New York in five games to win the title.

1979-80 The Lakers, led by a young rookie named Magic Johnson, defeat Philadelphia in six games to win the NBA title in the team's first NBA Finals appearance in seven years. The Lakers lose head coach Jack McKinney 13 games into the season after McKinney was in a life-threatening bicycle accident. Paul Westhead takes over the coaching duties and leads the Lakers to a 51-18 record through the rest of the season. The Lakers win the title despite being without Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (sprained ankle) for Game 6. In his absence, Johnson, playing center, racks up 42 points and 15 rebounds to help his team to the title.

1981-82 The Lakers win their second title in three years, and third since moving to Los Angeles, by defeating Philadelphia in six games. Head coach Paul Westhead is replaced by Pat Riley 11 games into the season, and the team responds by winning 17 of its next 20 games en route to their first of nine consecutive Pacific Division titles. The Lakers sweep past Phoenix and San Antonio to reach the Finals.

1984-84 After losing to Boston in the Finals eight straight times, the Lakers finally win a championship against the Celtics, winning in six games. The Lakers sweep Phoenix and defeat Portland and Denver in five games each before becoming the first team besides the Celtics to win on Boston Garden's parquet floor.

1986-87 The Lakers finish the regular season at 65-17, the second best in franchise history, and defeat Boston in six games to win the title. The Lakers lose just one game heading into the Finals, sweeping Denver and Seattle in the process.

1987-88 The Lakers become the first team since the 1968-69 Celtics to win back-to-back NBA titles, holding off Detroit in seven games. After sweeping San Antonio in the first round, the Lakers become the first NBA team ever to go the full seven games in their three remaining playoff series before winning the title.

CAPTION(S):

4 photos, 2 boxes

Photo: (1 -- color) KOBE BRYANT (2 -- color) SHAQUILLE O'NEAL (3 -- 4) The Lakers, with the addition of head coach Phil Jackson (inset), blossomed into champions in 2000 and became a dynasty in the making. Charlotte Schmid-Maybach/Staff Photographer Box: (1) Year in numbers (see text) (2) Los Angeles champions (see text)